HOUGHTON, MICH. — Residents and officials in Houghton and Menominee Counties in the Western Upper Peninsula assessed the damage and trying to figure out a way to get back to a normal lifestyle on Tuesday

Giant washouts from a heavy bout of weekend rain lead to previously unseen damage across both counties.

You need to look no further than Agate Road near downtown Houghton to see just how bad the destruction was, and to imagine how long clean up and repair will take compared to what Mother Nature did in a matter of few hours.

Tom Merz lives on Agate Road and looked over what was left of the road in front of his house.

Merz said, “I woke up, and I could see from the window that the street was collapsing. I got up two or three times, and I knew it would not be good news.”

He wasn’t wrong. There was little good news coming from the area.

Governor Snyder toured the area and learned that this storm was in fact deadly.

Snyder said, “It’s terrible. We lost a 12-year-old. That’s a terrible thing to have happen. I understand someone else may have been injured, but no other fatalities. But it’s awful to lose a youth in the prime of their life. Our hearts and prayers go out to the relatives.”

The 12-year-old victim was killed after being trapped in the basement of his home while the flood waters rose.

Snyder declared both counties a state of disaster, which allowed the National Guard to be dispatched to help. The American Red Cross is also on the scene assisting in a variety of ways.

Source: WSBT